BROCKTON — Incoming Councilor-at-large Jass Stewart, armed with results from a resident survey, said he is ready to hash out the details for an ambitious “plan of action” for the city.
Stewart says he is forming working groups that will determine how to meet the top city priorities identified in the survey, which was filled out by about 200 residents, most of them Stewart supporters.
The priorities are in the areas of accountability, economic development, education, public safety and neighborhoods — all issues on which incoming Mayor Linda Balzotti is also focused.
“He has been in touch with me about some ideas he has; hopefully we can try to work together as best we can,” Balzotti said. “But I clearly have things I need to accomplish as mayor, and some may be similar to his.”
“I’m going to take my own tack,” she said, adding that she plans to set up her own task forces after taking office next month.
Stewart said his efforts are meant to supplement Balzotti’s plans, not overshadow them.
“We need to leverage each other’s agendas,” said Stewart, a mayoral candidate in 2005 and 2007, who lost both times to James E. Harrington. Balzotti defeated Harrington in the November election.
Though just 203 people responded to his online survey, Stewart said the percentage of respondents is “incredibly high” considering that it went out to 1,115 people.
Stewart said he hopes to quickly form working groups of local citizens and officials, who will create a detailed plan by the end of March. Interested people can send an e-mail to taskforce@jassstewart.com.
The groups will focus on the following priorities, which were chosen from a list of 25 possibilities by survey respondents:
Accountability: Neighborhood advisory councils that provide local government with advice on addressing community needs, from missing street signs to addressing eyesores.
Economic development: Business task force to comb through the federal stimulus package to locate where the city can apply for funds to support existing and new industries.
Education: Advanced training programs for workers who wish to improve their skills to meet the needs of local industries.
Public safety: Targeting the small number of high-activity offenders and hot spot locations that constitute a large percentage of the city’s crime.
Neighborhoods: Creation and enforcement of local ordinances that encourage the maintenance of private property, from cutting one’s grass to the removal of junk cars.
The working groups will be able to craft their own proposals, but Stewart said he will have plenty of suggestions.
For instance, when it comes to local ordinances — which must ultimately be passed by the City Council — Stewart said he’d support stiff fines for littering.
In Singapore, Stewart said he learned that littering carries a $500 fine. Stewart said he would support that for Brockton “in a second.”
Meanwhile, Stewart said he is also working with local leaders — including the mayor-elect, Superintendent Matthew Malone and the Metro South Chamber of Commerce — to put together an “innovations conference.”
The one- or two-day conference, which will be co-sponsored by The Enterprise, will focus on how to help Brockton “become a 21st century city,” Stewart said. A date in 2010 for the conference has not been finalized.
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Kyle Alspach can be reached at kalspach@enterprisenews.com.
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